In actress Sarah Jessica Parker's words, Carrie Bradshaw is a woman "with access to fashion and... likes to spend her money in certain ways." I might put it in slightly less flattering language: Carrie Bradshaw is rich and shallow.

A sign hangs on the door of Gotham City Video, one of the places McClear used to work.
Photo by Bjorn Roche

I wouldn't have been able to identify author Sheila McClear as she walked in for our interview if I hadn't already seen her photo on the back of her new book, The Last of the Live Nude Girls. Tall and slender, with straight brown hair that breaks against pale, almost translucent skin and green eyes framed by glasses, 30 year old Michigan native Sheila McClear looks more like a bookish intellectual than a former peep show dancer. 

McClear, who is the daughter of two lawyers and holds a college degree in theater and costume design from the University of Michigan, was unable to find steady work after moving to New York City. "Like many college graduates, I actually had very few marketable skills," McClear reflects in her book. Going by the name of Chelsea, the first neighborhood where she had ever danced, McClear began performing at several different live peep shows at age 25 before retiring about a year and a half later to work as a full-time writer for Gawker. (McClear is now a features reporter for the New York Post.)

She specifically requested a gossipy roommate on her freshman housing application form

     I have a piece of sobering news for pimple-faced adolescent boys inundated with movies (porn), magazines (porn), and television shows (porn) that titillate with images of collegiate girl-on-girl action. Turns out those college girls may actually be *studying* instead of getting it on with each other. Studying something decidedly unsexy like Entomology or 19th Century Victorian Literature. At least, this is according to the New York Times, which recently published the results of a study suggesting that women with bachelor's degrees were actually less likely to have had a same-sex experience than those who did not finish high school.

 Meet Alex, the teenager I always wanted to be when I was a teenager. Actually, scratch that; at *censored* years of age, I still want to be like Alex, the fourteen year old rock star heroine of Joyce Raskin’s new book My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star. Through playing music, Alex gains a strong sense of self-empowerment and identity, making Misadventures a positive model for women both young and old. Just as importantly, Misadventures is fun to read – in fact, I read it straight through without putting it down.
The book also inspires curiousity about its author, Joyce Raskin, who is a rock star in her own right, playing in the band Scarce. Here’s what she has to say to Chicktellectual.com about being a teenage girl, rock star and risk-taker.

It's hard to pick a favorite part out of this...

I've always known, deep in my heart, that women would be the death of me. Truth be told though, I always thought it would be one, solitary gun wielding femme fatale who simply had an taste for danger. Now I know the truth: all attractive women are dangerous. All of them. My misconception was due to art, while the truth comes by science. Thank God for science, which, truly, is unbiased, honest always has our best interests at heart. Take it from these wise researchers: Don't spend any time with attractive women: especially not alone. They are like black widows sucking at your souls!

- Oh, my little girl is coming on next.
- Seriously? How old is she?
- Seven.
- Seven! And she's in this?! Dang! That's amazing!
- Yea, we're so proud of her... OMG here she comes. I'm shaking... Wait what's that she's wearing... holy shit is that a... Who dressed my daughter up like a stripper? What the hell is going on?
- Ooo. She's a good dancer though.
- Uh, thanks.
- Better watch out when she hits puberty.
- Uh....
- Man... better watch out, like right now.
- ...
- uh, huh.

Or something Like that....

Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Mackenzie Phillips, an actress and daughter of Mamas and the Papas singer John Phillips. Mackenzie said that her father raped her and eventually their relationship became "consensual".

While it's hard to imagine anything other than Stockholm syndrome, a comparison she herself makes, it does raise some important issues like how power is used and abused, how rape and incest perpetrators get away with their crimes, and can psychologically manipulate their victims, etc. Many people might ask why she continued this relationship long into adulthood.

If we believe Mackenzie (her father died in 2001) this is a clear-cut case. This is not something that anyone could claim is a fuzzy area: her father had been giving her drugs since she was ten and started raping her at 19 when she was passed out because he was jealous that she was getting married. So the fact that she talked about these issue in her book and with Oprah should be a good opportunity for a dialog about these issues.

So the blogosphere must be talking a lot about psychology and real-world implications of all this, right? No.

What every cougar wants to be: young-looking

  It's easy to criticize and make fun of the cougar mania that's grabbing the national attention right now, what with all the TV shows and the first national cougar's convention coming up and all (actually that's a bit surprising... there must have been others...). But let's face it, it is a bit fascinating. I mean, older women who men actually find physically attractive? Is that even biologically possible? Gosh, there's so much to talk about I'm not even sure where to start.

  Of course, to modern entertainment, a cougar couldn't be more exiting: it's a twist, but it's still sexy. Yes, men and women still play their traditional gender rolls (phew!) and nothing is really challenged so it's still safe for TV, and even, say, discussing at the water-cooler, but it seems like things are challenged, doesn't it? Perfect combo!

  So instead of criticizing, lets celebrate that we finally have something we can all agree on: cougars are awesome! They are just what every woman should want more than anything: to still be sexy at 50... er, maybe 40, we can't all be Demi Kutcher (yes, that's her name, now).

Thanks to KRO-media for the picture of the adorable little baby cougar. So little and cute and cuddly. Yes you are. Yes you are!

 I previously reported incorrectly that Wonderbra had signed and then fired model Katie Green. After speaking with representatives from some of the parties involved, and doing a bit more research, here's the whole story, which unfortunately got a bit lost in our editorial backlogs. Apologies to Wonderbra.

Katie Green Stands in front of her Billboard.
Click to Enlarge.

Back in July of '08, Wonderbra announced it was inviting women of all ages, shapes and sizes to participate in what it called "Britain's biggest underwear photoshoot." The result of the photoshoot was a billboard mosaic made up of pictures of the 1,000 women who showed up and got free makeovers and photoshoots. Unfortunately, Katie Green, who was chosen to be the star of the shoot, (her picture would appear as the composite of the mosaic) forgot to leave her digits (probably out of habit from all those slimy pub nights, right Katie?). When Katie didn't get called back, she thought it was time to move on to other things, and was just about to apply to become a police officer when her friends told her that her photo was in the paper and that Wonderbra was looking for her.

Helle Mardahl looking relaxed just a few days before her first NYC show opens up

 It's not often that you meet someone who says she gave up her successful career to become an artist because she was sick of working so hard for so little money. But that's how Helle Mardahl came to be an artist. In fact, she told me, "I believe in destiny and destiny told me to calm down a bit."

 I met Mardahl recently at LaViolaBank Gallery, where she was preparing for her upcoming show, The Largest Possible Audience. She was white-washing a canvas in preparation for a projection, which seemed more like a Zen exercise than work. We discussed her art and her previous career in fashion and I noticed that she certainly had the energy, passion and vigor of someone in fashion, but at the same time I also noticed an air of relaxation and even contentment about her. The satisfaction she seems to have found in developing the complex and intricate works she was putting up might have surprised her a few years ago, but her drive and determination didn't mean she had the manic furvor I've seen in so many fashion designers.

 Despite the complexity of her works, she explained her ideas and inspiration in very simple terms. People's obsession with the royal family, which inspired her last show, and people's desire for attention which inspired this show, are so simple that you don't have to be a 'tellectual to understand what she's talking about.

Interview with Burlesque Superstar Angie Pontani

Before the show I had the chance to meet with glamour vixen Angie Pontani, the show’s star and reigning queen of burlesque, Miss Exotic World 2008.  We had tea and chatted about jungle girl stripteases, mishaps with bathtubs and why women love burlesque so much.

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